The more I build out my collection, and connect everything together with KVMs, scalers, HDMI swiches and matrices, etc. etc., the more I appreciate when someone has the discipline to just set up one single, fully complete, period-correct, desktop system. I think I'm going to rotate one system of my own into a standalone workstation to preserve that whole experience of sitting down at "the" computer. Much as I enjoy being able to power on any given build and play with it at a moment's notice, there's a definite charm in the limitations of a single PC setup.

My oldest is an IBM Thinkpad 360Ce: 486DX-2 50MHz, 20MB RAM, 380MB HDD, 12" color screen, 1MB WD video adapter. The battery does not even last a second unfortunately. It would be great for DOS games if only had a soundcard 🙁. The laptop got to my home in 1994 running Win 3.11 and IBM's DOS 5.0 IIRC. It was my dad's work laptop. When it was decommissioned, the company let him have it.

My oldest working OEM computer is probably one of my Apple ][s or my TRS-80, but my favorite and best condition of my old computer collection is my IBM 5150. 10/19/81 revision bios 16-64k motherboard with the full 64k memory, two ssr floppy drives and monochromatic display. I even have the original box and Guide to Operations for it. No box for the monitor though, unfortunately.

I want to mainly use this computer as a writing station, like a fancy (way cooler) typewriter I suppose. I love the keyboard, probably more than any other keyboard I've used. Big chunk of metal with great feeling spring-backed keys. It just feels so nice to type on, and I find the green glow of the monitor pretty soothing. I just purchased an OEM 256kb memory expansion card off of ebay, which will hopefully let me get the version of WordPerfect I have running. I also just bought an original Hercules graphics card to play around with. See if I can get Might and Magic II going or something maybe. I'm really curious how any game will look on that green phosphor screen.

Picture of DOS backup disk I made yesterday, just for fun. Finally found a copy of DOS 2.10!

The more I build out my collection, and connect everything together with KVMs, scalers, HDMI swiches and matrices, etc. etc., the more I appreciate when someone has the discipline to just set up one single, fully complete, period-correct, desktop system.

Good one. 😉 That 5150 in the picture is actually standing as an eye-catcher in my kitchen. You don't want to see my workshop / hobby room where the rest of my stuff is. 🤣

There was actually a PC sold under the Commodore brand. I found 2 of these AT systems which both contained a s4 motherboard with Pentium 60MHz.
Iirc this wasn't the 'real' commodore though, it was basically a reboot of the brand. But still, the case badges look nice 😜

EDIT: I wasn't much of a fan of OEM stuff, because one thing that attracted me to building PCs was that they are modular in design.
But I forgot to mention the most important thing: The oldest brand name computer that should still be in working condition, is probably the Mac that I've inherited. I don't know what model number it is but it looks like the 1999 model on this picture here:https://create.pro/wp-content/uploads/2017/01 … r-1-774x500.jpg
The FS Barton 3200+ was in working condition, but I took some of the parts out for backup purposes and I ended up never put it back together again.

I've got my Amstrad CPC 464 upstairs, circa 1985. 100% working, new power supply, new SCART adaptor. Been a trooper for 35 years now. Next to it is my Amstrad 6128+, same deal, new SCART, new PSU, fully working except for an intermittently stuck keyboard key, circa 1990.